About us

Naame Shaam is an independent campaign group focusing on the Iranian regime’s role in Syria. It is also a source of independent and reliable news and commentary on the Syrian revolution and the Iranian regime’s role in suppressing it. We are a group of Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese activists and citizen-journalists. The group’s Campaign Director is Fouad Hamdan from Lebanon. The Head of Research and Advocacy is Shiar Youssef from Syria. The other members of the group wish to remain anonymous for the time being for security reasons.

Online, Offline

We carry out peaceful, real-life actions and protests to put pressure on the Iranian regime and to influence the public narrative about the Syrian revolution.

Our first action was in Berlin in April 2014, coinciding with a German-Iranian business conference there. It was followed by actions in Vienna ahead and during nuclear talks between the P5+1 group of nations and the Iranian regime in May 2014.

In April 2014 we published an open letter to Syrian opposition leaders and activists, asking them to talk to the Iranian public in Farsi. The reaction was positive, and the narrative of the Syrian revolution about the Iranian regime’s role has started to change.

More actions and campaigns followed…

The Beginning

On Friday, 8 November 2013, like every Friday since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, anti-regime protests were held in various neighbourhoods and towns in Syria. The name given to this Friday was “The Friday of No to the Iranian Occupation of Syria”.

As we watched the pictures and videos of the protests, we realized that Iranians knew so little about what’s actually happening in Syria. Most of their information comes from biased state-controlled media.

Moreover, it struck us that there was actually little concrete and reliable information about Iran’s role in Syria and in Lebanon:

– How much is the Iranian government spending from Iranian public money on arming and supporting the Syrian regime in its bloody war against the Syrian people?

– How many Sepah Pasdaran members are fighting alongside Syrian regime forces in Syria, or are they really only acting as “advisers”, as they claim?

– What is the extent of Hezbollah Lebanon’s involvement in Syria?

– Why is the Iranian regime spending so much money on its adventure in Syria? What is it aiming to achieve there?

Thus, on 10 February 2014, we started a Facebook page, and a website a month later, dedicated to exposing the role of the Iranian regime in Syria. Offline work followed soon (see above).

Change of focus

When Naame Shaam started in late 2013, hardly anyone in Syria and Iran was focusing on the Iranian regime’s role in suppressing the Syrian revolution. There was little reliable information, beyond general clichés, on the extent and nature of Sepah Pasdaran’s and Hezbollah Lebanon’s involvement in the war in Syria. So we launched Naame Naame as an attempt to fill this gap.

Now that this involvement is no longer a secret (even Sepah and Hezbollah commnders are now bragging about it) and many mainstream and independent media outlets are covering this issue extensively, there seems to be less need for our news and information production services.

Our intention from the beginning was to combine news and information with campaigning work, but the former inevitably took a big chunk of our time and energy because we thought it was necessary at the time. This is no longer the case now.

So, in July 2014, we decided to focus mainly on campaigning and actions, with the hope that our small contribution will help end the bloodshed in Syria and bring those responsible to justice. And ‘those’ here includes, first and foremost, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who are the ones running the show in Syria today.

We have talked the talk; now it’s time to walk the walk!

The Campaign Director is Fouad Hamdan from Lebanon. The Head of Research and Advocacy is Shiar Youssef from Syria. The other members of the group wish to remain anonymous for the time being for security reasons.

Special – Some useful resources for activists planning to organise protests and demonstrations in front of Iranian embassies on 17 April, Syria’s Independence Day, under the slogan #End_Iranian_occupation_of_Syria You find attached a simple design of a banner with a clear message in three languages: English, Arabic and […]

The Hague, 7 April 2015 – The campaign group Naame Shaam (1) today called for peaceful demonstrations in front of Iranian embassies all over the world on April 17, Syria’s Independence Day, to protest against what the group describes as the “Iranian occupation of Syria.” As part […]

To visualize the Iranian occupation of Syria, Naame Shaam has produced this photomontage of a Syrian bank note with the counterfeit of General Soleimani, together with former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. لتصوير الاحتلال الإيراني لسوريا، أصدرت (نامه شام) هذه العملة الورقية السورية الجديدة التي تحمل صورة الجنرال […]

The Hague, 14 March 2015 – The campaign group Naame Shaam today called on the US and its allies to implement the following five concrete steps to stop the bloodbath in Syria and end the no-longer-secret Iranian occupation of the country. 1_ Give the Iranian regime a […]

Naame Shaam calls on US and allies to refer Syria massacres to International Criminal Court Campaign group releases animation highlighting Iran’s role in Syria massacres The Hague, 16 February 2015 – The campaign group Naame Shaam (1) today called on the US and its allies to take […]

Below is an interview with Naame Shaam’s Fouad Hamdan by Shia Watch about the disastrous role of the Iranian regime and its Hezbollah militia in Syria. Bearing the High Cost of Iran’s Multifaceted Ambitions An interview with Fouad Hamdan, Campaign Director for Naame Shaam Iran’s Sepah […]

The Hague, 19 January 2015 – The campaign group Naame Shaam (1) today published an open letter to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah Lebanon, urging him to withdraw his fighters from Syria in order to stop the fitna (2) and save the Shia communities of […]

19 January 2015 Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hundreds of Lebanese Shia men have died in Syria under the banner of Hezbollah Lebanon; hundreds more have been injured and maimed. This high price of Hezbollah’s intervention in the war in Syria is being paid by Shia families in Baalbek, […]